Tonight I’ll be reunited with many of my high school classmates. It’s our 35th class reunion. I’m looking forward to it. We graduated from high school in war time. Vietnam was grinding up human lives and nearly all of my classmates went to college. Many went to avoid the draft. Some volunteered for military service. It was a crazy time. I was thinking of one of those who joined the US Navy right out of high school. He won’t be there tonight. He died about 15 or 20 years ago. Monte Austin and I were in Boy Scouts together and later in the US Navy together. Our paths crossed many times during our lives. One of the other people who won’t be there tonight is Buddy Gethicker. He died tragically during our senior year in an automobile accident. Bud was two years younger than the rest of us and was filled with an enthusiasm that was unparalleled. I can still remember him painting his arm green and cheering our basketball team against rival Springville High School.

In June of 1971 over two-hundred of us walked across the stage. We were full of hopes and dreams like most high school graduates are. Tonight we gather in a local restaraunt not far from the stage we crossed to celebrate our lives and those memories. I’m grateful for the last thirty-five years and for the memories of our class. Peace.